This year, The Summit Church is asking every member to participate in the Who’s Your One? initiative, as we pray that God leads many people in our communities to faith in Christ.
Though “making disciples of all nations” is a command from Jesus himself (Matt 28:19), reaching lost people with the gospel of Jesus Christ can be difficult and intimidating for many Christians. That’s why we recently released our Who’s Your One? Evangelism Training—a series of short talks designed to provide practical steps for leading your One to Christ. The Who’s Your One? Evangelism Training can be found at summitchurch.com/one.
The following resources are intended to complement the Who’s Your One? Evangelism Training, equipping you as you take further steps to grow in your abilities to effectively lead your One to Christ.
Building Friendships
A first step in effective evangelism for many of us begins with building friendships. One way to grow in our abilities to build friendships with non-Christians is to practice hospitality, a biblical idea that simply means welcoming outsiders. Rosaria Butterfield offers valuable advice on practicing hospitality in her book The Gospel Comes With a House Key and in the video Loving the Stranger: Awakening & Hospitality. In two brief articles, Butterfield has also explained “Why Hospitality is for all Christians” and how “Christian Hospitality is Radically Different from Southern Hospitality.”
Real friendships require intentionality, planning, and time. Some of us might be unaware of how little margin we have in our lives for new friendships with non-Christians. This Margin Audit from the Summit can help you grow in your understanding of what margin is and how you can use it to leverage your life for God’s glory.
Reading the Word Together
One of the best things we can do for non-Christians and new disciples is to invite them to read God’s Word.
- Read a few verses every day. We recommend using any one of the following 31-day studies from the Summit: Growing Deeper with God, Pursuing God, See For Yourself, Taste and See, and The Life and Ministry of Jesus. Each study invites non-Christians and new disciples to read just a few select verses each day and reflect on how these verses impact our everyday lives.
- Invite them to read a short book of the Bible, such as the Gospel of Mark or a New Testament letter like Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, or Colossians.
Whichever path you choose, it’s important to meet up weekly and discuss what God is saying through his Word.
Addressing Objections to Christianity
Many non-Christians have intellectual objections to Christianity. Randy Newman challenges Christians to not rush into speaking or answering when asked a question. Instead, as Newman proposes in Questioning Evangelism, asking good questions can help us listen more, talk less, build relationships, and create avenues for the gospel.
Pastor J.D. Greear addresses seven common objections to Christianity in the Why I’m Not a Christian sermon series, where he answers questions like: Can we trust the Bible? Has science disproved the Bible? How can a good God allow suffering? And, how can there be only one way to God?
The Gospel At Work
Many Christians have questions about how to live for Jesus at their jobs and build friendships in the workplace. For more read Ashok Nachnani’s article on “Evangelism In the Workplace.” Also, consider Tim Keller’s approach to “Evangelism through ‘Networking’....”
Sharing the Gospel
The Who’s Your One? Evangelism Training shares the gospel with a combination of Romans 6:23 and the Bridge Illustration. For those looking for more information on how to share the gospel with Romans 6:23 and the Bridge Illustration, read One-Verse Evangelism by Navigators. Also consider these other ways to present the gospel:
More Evangelism Resources
A classic book filled with helpful truths and insights on evangelism is Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism.
Since many discussions of evangelism are directed to the individual Christian, read more about how your small group or your church community can engage the lost together in Jeff Vanderstelt’s Saturate and Mark Dever’s Compelling Community.